MEDIA ADVISORY: Iraqi judge who convicted Saddam Hussein joins U.S. lawyers who created the Iraqi Special Tribunal

Sep. 11, 2008, 2:42 PM

[Media Note: Vanderbilt has a 24/7 broadcast facility with a dedicated fiber optic line for live or taped TV interviews and a radio ISDN line. Read more about Mike Newton and his book Enemy of the State: The Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein and watch a video of Newton at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/authors/mikenewton. The event will be posted on www.youtube.com/vanderbilt.]

Four people intimately involved in the historic trial of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will talk about their experiences at Vanderbilt Law School on Sept. 29 at 3:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Iraqi judge Ra’id Juhi was the first judge to risk his life and face former dictator Saddam Hussein in court. He and his fellow judges on the Special Tribunal made history by being the first to use international war crimes and genocide laws never before seen in Iraq. Despite the intense risks involved, he became the face of the Saddam trial by allowing it to air live on Iraqi TV.

Vanderbilt law professor Mike Newton played a pivotal role in the creation of the Iraqi Special Tribunal that tried Saddam. He led the training for its judges and he continues to advise the tribunal today.

In a new book titled Enemy of the State: The Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein, Newton and his co-author Michael Scharf give a historic recounting of the Saddam trial with a behind-the-scenes look inside the drama and tragedy surrounding it. Newton also offers a unique legal perspective, explaining the challenges of training and advising Iraqi judges as they integrated existing Iraqi law with previously unknown international war crimes and genocide laws.

Judge Juhi, Newton, Scharf and Executive Director of the International Bar Association Mark Ellis will also discuss the implications the Saddam trial could have on future war crimes trials.
WHAT: Judge who convicted Saddam Hussein, two of the U.S. attorneys who helped create and train the Iraqi Tribunal and the executive director of the International Bar Association to talk about the Saddam trial and the book, Enemy of the State.